Week 8: Tech Tools and Teamwork
Ava M -
Welcome back to Week 8 of my senior project! This week I had the opportunity to attend a high-level briefing with my team and Mr. Edwin Lewis, the Chief Information Officer of the Department of the Air Force Financial Management. During this session, my team presented their ongoing work on the ODIN-FM tool. Again, ODIN-FM is an advanced system that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to revolutionize the Execution Plan (EP) process for the center.
Currently, the EP process is highly manual and time-consuming, requiring over 40,000 man-hours and stretching across seven months to compile and validate more than 25,000 individual funding line items. The ODIN-FM tool aims to drastically improve this by automating key components of the process, with a goal of reducing the workload to just 2,000 man-hours over two months. This monumental time and resource savings not only boosts efficiency but also allows analysts and financial managers to focus more on strategic decision-making and less on data wrangling. The scale of improvement being targeted is both impressive and encouraging, especially considering the long-standing complexity of the current system.
During the briefing, we addressed several challenges that the team is actively working to overcome. One of the major technical hurdles is training the tool’s large language models (LLMs) to accurately interpret contract funding breakouts: a critical part of generating precise funding plans. The contracts can be incredibly complex, with dense legal and financial terminology that the AI must learn to decode consistently and correctly. On top of that, my team shared the organizational challenges we’re facing, particularly the lack of support and consistent data sharing from the contracting community. Since these contracts are the primary data source feeding ODIN-FM, building trust and collaboration with contracting stakeholders is essential to the tool’s success. It was clear that the team remains focused and optimistic, even in the face of these ongoing obstacles. We’re hopeful that Mr. Lewis’ involvement will help bridge this gap, both by raising awareness at higher levels and advocating for more integrated interdepartmental cooperation.
This week also involved preparation for the AFIMSC/FM Innovation Day, which is scheduled for May 20th. This is a major event where AFIMSC/FM will showcase several of its most impactful tech innovations to over 2,500 employees at the Kelly Annex building on JBSA-Lackland. ODIN-FM is one of four tools being presented, and my team is working hard to refine our demo and messaging to clearly communicate the real-world benefits of this system. The Innovation Day will serve as a powerful platform to highlight how tools like ODIN-FM are not just saving time and money, they’re transforming how the Air Force executes its mission, making financial management more agile and responsive in support of America’s Airmen and Guardians.
From a senior project perspective, this week has deepened my understanding of how technology is being integrated into real-world government processes. It has also shown me the importance of cross-functional communication, stakeholder buy in, and the human element behind technological transformation. Observing how my team interacts with senior leadership, overcomes technical and bureaucratic obstacles, and prepares to publicly demonstrate months of hard work has given me a valuable look into the real dynamics of innovation within a large scale federal institution. It’s been a rewarding experience to see how collaboration and forward-thinking can lead to meaningful progress in such a complex environment.
Thank you for reading! See you next week!
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